another chance to discuss Davis purchase

The Davis property of woods and fields could become space for a new town hall, a development of 30 homes, or left as hiking trails or even a town forest.

Susan Morse

The Davis property of woods and fields could become space for a new town hall, a development of 30 homes, or left as hiking trails or even a town forest.

Residents have one more chance to weigh-in the potential town purchase during a public forum being held between 10 and 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, at Village Elementary School.

What will be discussed is what happens if the town does, or doesn't, buy the Davis land, according to Community Development Director Steve Burns.

The question to buy the property is expected to be on the ballot for May 2014.

The heirs of Mary McIntire Davis have offered the 100-acre property in back of 142 York St. for sale to the town for $5.5 million, retaining the 17th-century family home on York Street and an estimated 10 acres surrounding it.

Presumably, if voters reject buying the land, the property would be offered for sale on the open market.

Burns said because of vernal pools and buffers, about 30 acres, or a third of the property, could not be built upon. A private developer could propose cluster housing, he said.

The total 107.6 acres has an assessed value of close to $1.5 million: $894,300 for the land and $575,400 for the 1692 home, according to information on the town's assessing database at www.yorkmaine.org.

Burns and York Community Dialogue head Ron McAllister have been getting public opinion on the property but are not expected to make a recommendation for future use of the land. They will report their findings to the Board of Selectmen at a future meeting, Burns said.

One expected recommendation is that an appraisal be done of the property, to determine its market value.

Residents interviewed after their first look at the undeveloped Davis property last Saturday, Oct. 26, said the land should be conserved for trails and educational uses.

More than 70 people turned out for the site walk. Burns and Code Enforcement Officer Amber Harrison led two groups through a grassy field next to the Village Elementary School athletic fields onto trails through the woods.

Burns led a group of about 40 people over an old stonewall under a canopy of trees, past a vernal pool out to the Little River. The group stopped where homes in the residential neighborhood of Donica Road could be seen.

Donica Road residents could be affected by the purchase because the street is considered a potential access point to the property. Diane Bright recently moved to Donica Road. She favored the property being conserved as trails, rather than as a housing development.

"My daughter plays in the woods all the time, she makes fairy houses," Bright said of daughter Hannah Moroney, 6, who also went on the walk.

Another Donica Road resident, Elaine Curry, said, "I like the idea of trails."

Audrey Gottlieb of York Street said the land should be purchased and donated to the York Land Trust to be conserved. "That would be ideal," she said.

Resident Rozanna Patane said the town should get together with the York Land Trust in negotiating the purchase of the property.

"I had no idea this spectacular piece of property was here in the middle of town," Patane said. "We can't let it go to a developer."

York Land Trust Executive Director Doreen MacGillis, who attended the walk, said the land trust would likely not take the lead in fundraising but could support the town in its vision for the property.

This could include having the land trust hold a conservation easement or creating public trails or a community forest component, she said.

"We feel this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," MacGillis said. "We know the town has many needs."

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